Kissing Eden (10 page)

The receipts had all be
en tallied, and I made a spreadsheet with the past two years’ expenses along with a projected forecast for the rest of this year. I was impressed that my applied business skills were coming in handy.

I heard the familiar ring of my phone
, and smiled when I saw Taylor’s picture flash on the screen. “Hey.”

“Hey
, girl, you haven’t called to give me the scoop,” Taylor shouted into the phone. It was doubtful she was alone. “Are you ok?”

“I know.
I know. It’s just been so crazy here. How are things in Myrtle Beach?” I leaned back in the office chair, happy to have a break from the numbers.

“Awesome. There is a swim-up bar. You should see it.”

“Sounds cool.” I looked at the freshly printed spreadsheet. Taylor and I could not be having more opposite types of spring breaks.

“Ok, so are you going to tell me about the guy?”

I spotted Grey walking across the parking lot toward the office. “I can’t. He’s on his way in. I’ll call you later—promise.”

She sighed. “All right, but I want to know what’s going on with you.
I miss you.”

“
I miss you too. We can talk later when he’s not around. Ok?”

“Ok, but you better call.” Taylor sounded like she was pouting.

“I will. Bye.”

“Bye.”

I slid the phone in my back pocket as Grey entered the room. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to share my Grey story with Taylor. I told her absolutely everything, but my Carolina life seemed so far away right now. How could I explain Grey to her? In only five days, I felt like I had a whole new life, with new friends and a new hot and sexy someone.

I adjusted the new tank top I had bought this morning at Sandy’s
, and brushed my bangs to the side. It would be nice to go to lunch together at Pete’s. I was willing to risk Mac’s nosey questions to have a few minutes with Grey. I realized how far out of my element I was with this fling as I flashed a smile and thought about how to ask him to lunch.

“
Dammit,” he muttered. The doorknob had broken off in his hand.

“Too bad there’s not someone around here who could fix that
,” I joked. I walked around the side of the desk to greet him with a kiss.

He threw the metal handle in a nearby
trash can. “I have to run to the mainland for more supplies. I’ll be back later.” He brushed past me, grabbed a clipboard from behind my shoulder, and slammed the door behind him.

What just happened?
I shook my head and fumbled with the doorknob to follow Grey. Something was bothering him—that I could tell. As annoyed as I was at the chilly exchange, I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to figure out what was upsetting him. Maybe he just needed to talk about it. I chased him down the sidewalk. He was several paces ahead of me.

“You want me to go with you? I can ride
with, help you load up the cart? Maybe we could grab lunch. I’m starving.” I smiled, trying to sort through his mood and find the guy who had flirted with me this morning about a sneak peek fashion show.

Grey didn’t slow down. He climbed into his truck and started the ignition. “No, I don’t have time to play around
, Eden. Just go lie out or something.” He slammed the door, and I stared in disbelief as he careened the truck onto Gulf Boulevard.

“That little shit
,” I uttered the words into the Padre breeze. I stormed into the office, banging the door behind me. My beautifully color-coordinated spreadsheets stared me in the face. I had just spent six hours organizing his numbers and making forecasts, and he treated me like
that
. He couldn’t spare thirty seconds to attempt basic manners? I shoved all of the reports into the top drawer of the desk and marched into the afternoon heat. I was done helping him today.

I didn’t want to
lie out at the pool or on the beach, and I didn’t want Grey to treat me like some kind of child that had gotten underfoot. He didn’t see me that way last night—at least it didn’t feel like he did. All I felt when he looked at me and kissed me was that, without him, I would probably lose all ability to breathe in and breathe out. I just didn’t realize how true that was until I saw him spin out of the Palm’s parking lot. I was in deep—Texas-size deep.

CHAPTER SEVEN

I
couldn’t keep pacing in my room. This wasn’t good for me. My heart was about to beat out of my chest. Grey had been gone for hours. I didn’t really know where he had to go on the mainland and I wasn’t exactly sure where that was. It was over the bridge, but other than that, it was like a big geographic black hole.

I pulled open the drawer.
Inside the bedside table was a yellowed writing tablet. I scribbled a note and crossed the parking lot to shove it under Grey’s door. Everything had happened so quickly with us that it never occurred to me to swap phone numbers. This must have been what my parents felt like when they met. They loved to tell me stories about dating in the age before email, cell phones, and social media. How did anyone ever meet up or know where the other person was? I folded the note in half and slipped the corner under his door before tapping the rest under the threshold.

If Grey made it back to the Palm before I did, at least he would know I was at Pete’s getting some dinner. I wasn’t sure why I bothered to tell him, but I wanted him to know I was worried—that it mattered, that he mattered.

A Jeep full of spring breakers passed before I crossed the street and trekked through Pete’s parking lot.

I pushed open the door to
my new hangout. There was something comforting about the prospect of one of the bar’s cheeseburgers. I had skipped lunch altogether, but there was no way I was going to skip dinner too. Comfort food was exactly what I needed.

“Look who’s here.
” Mac smiled sheepishly from behind the counter. He fidgeted with the towel over his shoulder. He seemed uncomfortable to see me, but I brushed it off, knowing I was hypersensitive at the moment.

“Hey, Mac. I could really go for a margarita and one of those burgers that are so good.” I slid into the first open seat.

The cowboy next to me smiled. Unlike Bongos, I felt comfortable here. I knew I didn’t have to worry about slimeball jerks trying to paw at me. I definitely would not be going back to the club scene the rest of the week.

“Sure thing, Eden.” Mac
looked over my shoulder. Something was off with the bartender. I was certain.

He typed in the order
for my cheeseburger and reached for the tequila. I watched as he rimmed the glass with lime then a heavy dose of thick salt.

“Here you go. That burger will be right up.” There it was again. Mac was focused on something or someone behind me.

I took a full sip of the drink before spinning on the stool. The end of Pete’s was an open wall, completely exposed to the sound and marsh sprawling along the island’s west side. The sunset was blinding, but I squinted through the orange rays until my eyes landed on two figures at a far table. What in the hell? Was this really happening to me again? Clearly, I must be a magnet for guys who have no problem hopping from one girl to the next.

I picked up my margarita and began the painful walk to the patio tables.
I sidestepped the waitress whose arms were loaded with beer mugs. I stopped in front of the table closest to the water. The one with arguable the prettiest and most romantic view on the entire island. Sunset lovers camped out all afternoon just to get that table.

“I though
t you were out getting supplies.” I was trying not to let the contempt seep through my teeth, but holding back wasn’t my best trait. The patrons next to the table had turned their sun-setting gaze to me.

“Oh
, hey. I didn’t see you come in.” Grey smiled.

He
seemed more relaxed than the last time I had seen him, only last time he wasn’t sitting with a cute brunette, in a short dress and five-inch-heels.

“Oh, hey?”
I pushed down the queasy feeling in my stomach. Was this the part of the fling where I was supposed to play it cool, like we didn’t actually know each other and hadn’t spent all night skin to skin? I didn’t think I could do it, especially not now with Grey sitting so close to someone else.

“Who’s this?”
I spit the words.

“Eden, this is Laura. Laura, Eden.” He
glanced between the two of us before tipping his beer bottle back.

I don’t know if he thought I would shake her hand or hug her like a fake sorority girl, but neither of those things
was going to happen.

“Laura?” I could feel the trembling in my ankles.
Oh my God. How was this happening? This was
Laura
.
As in, med school, he spent all his nights, did laundry with, cooked dinner, and watched movies with on the weekends Laura.

She looked nothing like her brother, Connor, other than the fact that she was thin, like perfect super-model thin. We could not be more different. Her long pink nails clutched a glass of white wine. She took a deliberate sip and smiled at me.

“So nice to meet you, Eden.” She even had a sweet Texas accent. She fluttered her eyes back to Grey and looked at him with consuming intensity. I thought I was going to be sick right there on Pete’s patio.

“Eden, are you ok?” Grey stood from the table. His voice was deeper than usual
and he stepped closer to me. He blocked Laura from my view.

Everything happened so fast,
I didn’t think before the margarita flew from my hand and into Grey’s face. “No, I’m not ok, you asshole.”

The lime
drink streamed down his chiseled jaw as he wiped the slush from his cheek.

“Oh my God, Grey!” Laura jumped from her seat with a stack of napkins.

Before I witnessed one more nauseating exchange between the two, my legs carried me out of Pete’s faster than I had ever run in flip-flops. Mac might have been calling my name or maybe it was Grey. The tears kept streaming down my face, and each time I wiped one away with my palm three more appeared. I managed to cross the street without being struck by a car. In my current state, that was a miracle.

I
didn’t know how long it took me to walk back three blocks from the bar, because everything was a blur. Room twenty-three waited for me as a sanctuary and as a reminder of the mistake I had made. Why did I think I was ever capable of having a spring break fling? I secured the door behind me before throwing myself facedown on the bed in a crying messy heap. I had just lost it—completely lost it in front of Grey, Laura, Mac, and anyone else who was at Pete’s. I tried to take a deep breath. I didn’t want to cry, but the more I forced the tears to stay away, the more my chest hurt.

“
Darlin’, let me in.” Grey pounded on my door with heavy-fisted thuds.

I sat on the bed, reaching for a tissue to blot at my face.

“Are you in there?” He sounded worried.

“Go away, Grey!”
I didn’t expect him to follow me, and I wasn’t prepared to see him—not like this anyway.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but please open the damn door.”
The pounding stopped.

I moved closer to the door.
The pain in my chest had subsided a little and the queasiness was gone. “I’m not an idiot, Grey. I know who Laura is.” I spoke through the barrier that was between us.

“Well, that’s interesting, but not really the point
, I guess. Please just let me in.”

“Why?” I blew my nose into
the tissue and sank to the floor, resting my shoulder against the door.

“Because I
know I was a total dick when I left here this afternoon and I want to apologize.”

The tears in my eyes had slowed. What could he say that would make me feel like any less of an idiot? How could he explain Laura? What’s worse was that he didn’t need to
. I knew I had no right to barge in on him. We had been together one night. One night.

“And because I don’t know what you think you saw at Pete’s but it was nothing. There is nothing going on with Laura.” He paused for a few seconds. I thought he might have left. The tears welled in my eyes again. “
Baby, please let me in. I know you’re mad at me, but I can’t make it up to you or fix it if I can’t see you. Come on, Eden.”

His voice and the words struck a chord.
I pushed myself up from the floor and released the chain from the latch. Hesitantly, I opened the door.

“Thank God
. I thought you weren’t going to let me in.” Grey forced the door open all the way, until he was standing in front of me. His shirt was wet and he reeked of tequila.

I looked out into the corridor. It was empty.

“Are you expecting someone else?” Grey asked.

“Where did Laura go?”
My eyes dropped to the floor. I didn’t want to be jealous.

“Shit. Where is this coming from? How do you even know who she is?”
He placed his hands on his hips, waiting for an explanation.

“Does that really matter more than the fact that you were out having a drink
with her at Pete’s?” I knew I sounded resentful and I didn’t care. Now that Grey was standing in front of me, in my room, all of my emotions were stronger, and being so near to him heightened everything.

Grey hung his head. “That is not at all what was happening. But why do you care if I’m having a drink with an old friend?”

The words hit me where I was most vulnerable. “Old friend? Is that what you think about girls you lived with? I’m not an idiot, Grey! You were gone all day and then you had drinks at sunset at Pete’s. I saw how she looked at you.” My tears had dried and the anger I had for him was tangible.

“Good God, Eden. I barely know you. You can’t be seri
ously getting jealous about Laura.”

I walked toward the dresser.
“Ok, I take it back. I am an idiot. A complete idiot.” I started opening drawers and stuffing my new purchases back in their bags. The drawers slammed shut in my wake.

“What are you doing?”
Grey followed me as I collected everything I had in the room.

“I have to get out of here. I’ll call Marin or something.”
I didn’t think I could be in the same space as Grey. This was all a huge mistake. I couldn’t handle a fling.

“Stop. Just stop.” Grey spun me around until his hands were clutching both of my arms. “I’m not letting you leave like this.”

It was happening again—the air was charged and even though there were only inches between us, all I wanted was to erase them.

“Let me go, Grey.” I didn’t want to look at him.
I knew he could melt any resistance I had, and the way he was holding me, he knew it too.

“I don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours, but I was not on a date with someone else.
I went to Pete’s to pick up dinner for us as an apology for being such an asshole this afternoon. I never should have left out of here like that. I was a jerk. Laura followed me to Pete’s after she heard I was seeing you. She ambushed me—something about needing closure. Maybe I shouldn’t have sat down to talk to her, but I didn’t know all of this was going to happen. If I had your phone number, maybe I could have called you.”

I let me eyes travel from the floor to his face.
The no phone number excuse was bound to come into play, but his words sounded genuine and sincere. “Really?”

“Really.”

“She needed closure?” I never liked that word, and liked it even less now knowing it was so important to Laura.

“That’s what she said. This island is like a damn rumor mill
. Connor’s probably pissed we’re seeing each other and he told her about you. She’s not real happy about it.” He searched my eyes. “Are we good?”

I digested what he was saying.
There was no date with Laura, and he had tried to surprise me with an apology dinner. This was exactly what I was worried about—Grey melting my decision into a puddle. He didn’t wait for me to answer. His lips crashed into mine as he gathered me in his arms. I inhaled the nearness of him as my body softened in his hands.

“
Darlin’, don’t ever do that again,” he whispered in my ear.

I nodded. “I’m sorry I dumped my drink in your face.”

Grey let his hand travel down my back, and slip between my shorts and the soft skin of the small of my back. I felt the tingles travel through my belly.

“Eden, I’m not a wine and roses kind of guy.”
What he was doing with his fingers commanded me to relax into his hand. “Sometimes I’m a jerk, but I don’t lie and I don’t cheat.”

I tipped my head back
, giving him full access to my neck. He spun me toward the wall and reached his hand under my shirt, squeezing my breast. The way he touched me was like torture, but the kind I couldn’t wait to feel what he would do next.

“
I wouldn’t be with someone else. I don’t know what this is between us, but I feel it.” His gaze was so intense I lost my breath. He loosened the button on my shorts and grabbed my waistband, sending my shorts to the floor. I moaned as his fingers played between my legs. “Do you feel it?”

“
Mmm-hmm.” I was surrounded by whatever this thing was between us. I could feel it in my skin, my chest, and deep within my core.

Grey’s hands disconnected from my body. I was breathing heavier than I could remember, anticipating him. He unsnapped his shorts
, and I bit down hard on my lip as I heard them hit the floor. He grabbed the underside of my bottom and hoisted me on top of him. I almost screamed as I felt him enter me. I wanted him more than anything in my life.